City of Flagstaff issued the following announcement on Aug. 14.
Arizona recognizes National Navajo Code Talkers Day as a state holiday for the first time on August 14. Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation in March 2021 making the observance official. In 1942, 29 Navajo men joined the U.S. Marines and developed an unbreakable code that would be used across the Pacific during World War II. They were the Navajo Code Talkers.
Five facts about the Code Talkers:
1. The Code Talkers took part in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942-1945. These included the battles of Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Peleliu and Iwo Jima.
2. The Code Talkers originally began with 29 men in 1942 and were know as the Original 29. By 1945, it is estimated that over 400 men served as Navajo Code Talkers during World War II.
3. There are no military terms in the Navajo language. When developing the code, the Code Talkers got creative with the Navajo words for different codes. For example, a bomber plane is “Jay-sho”, which means buzzard, and a fighter plane is “Da-he-tih-hi”, which means hummingbird.
4. None of the Navajo Code Talkers could speak about the highly classified program until after the war. It was officially declassified in 1968. The Original 29, Navajo Code Talkers, were honored in 2001 with the Congressional Gold Medal. Others were honored with Congressional Silver Medals.
5. The code was never broken and was only known until after being declassified.
Original source can be found here.
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